EDITORIAL: Swatting back the scam artists that flock to a crisis

Apr. 18—Never let a good crisis go to waste.

It's much more than a paraphrase of Rahm Emanuel as Obama White House chief of staff, or an oft-attributed aphorism of Sir Winston Churchill. It's more like a political law of nature.

Whole wedges of government have been created to address a real or threatened catastrophe. The Social Security Administration was a reaction to the Great Depression. The United Nations was born out of World War II. The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine school shootings — all of them gave birth to change.

Sometimes the crisis doesn't benefit change as much as grandstanding for political purposes.

This week — when former Minneapolis police

Officer Derek Chauvin was put on trial for the death of George Floyd, and when Daunte Wright was shot in another Minnesota police encounter, and when an Indiana FedEx warehouse was the site of a mass shooting — has been an embarassment of riches for pundits looking to link an argument to erupting events.

But capitalizing on a crisis isn't just for politics. It's also popular for crime. The coronavirus pandemic with its social and financial fallout has meant a political response with stimulus money and programs to prop up businesses. The CARES Act didn't just put legal money in people's pockets. It created opportunities for abuse.

On Thursday, Randy Frasinelli, 64, of Scott was charged by the FBI with fraudulent use of Payroll Protection Program loans. The Department of Justice filed about 500 covid-related scam cases by the end of March.

But it isn't just a global emergency that can prompt abuse. Personal problems do, too.

The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts cautioned people Wednesday when they warned of a new kind of scam. People get a call and are told they need to pay fines or fees or they will be placed on the state's sexual offender list.

"We wanted to get the word out there as soon as we heard about it. The office is advising the public to stay vigilant against such scams," said AOPC spokesperson Stacey Witalec.

This just seems like a particularly heinous capitalization on people's fear — similar to telling someone bail money is needed for a grandchild or the IRS is demanding immediate payment to prevent prison time.

No crisis is too large or small for someone to take advantage of the opportunity for personal gain. That makes it important that those darker spots in human nature be anticipated when laws are written and catastrophes arise.

The coronavirus pandemic is not over yet, and those everyday disasters still happen with stunning regularity. It's important for government to be just as vigilant as the public. We should never waste the opportunity to stop a crisis from becoming a calamity.

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